‘Installation of surveillance radars to monitor entire aviation

INSTALLATION of the 67.3bn/- surveillance radars in four major airports will enable the country to monitor its entire aviation airspace, according to the Acting Director General of the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) Mbottolwe Kabeta.

At the moment, Tanzania is using old aviation radar which was installed at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in 2002, monitoring only 25 per cent of its aviation airspace.

According to him, what is going on now is the construction of special buildings to accommodate the radars in the regions of Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Mbeya and Mwanza.

He said that the installation exercise is set to commence anytime from now at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) following the completion of the radar building.

Kabeta said that after Dar es Salaam, the installation will continue in Kilimanjaro Internal Airport (KIA), Mwanza Airport and Songwe Airport.

Officiating two-day journalists’ training yesterday in Dar es Salaam, Kabeta said that the project is part of the authority’s strategy to improve the civil aviation industry by supporting government's vision of transforming the nation into a middle income country by 2025.

“The project will also facilitate search and rescue operations in case of emergency or air accidents. This will enable the country to meet the International Civil Aviation Organisations (ICAO) standards and guidelines,” he said.

The project, which is implemented by the France-based Company Thales Air System (SAS), will take 18 months for its completion.

“Safety of our skies is of paramount importance. With the four radars we will be able to monitor our entire airspace and beyond,” he said.

The director general further said that Tanzania is among the eight countries which have been recognised to receive the international Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) - Council Presidential award for outstanding performance of the Universal Safety Oversight Audits Programme USOAP.

According to him, the country performance was from 37.8 per cent in 2013 audit to 64.35 per cent in 2017.

Chief air traffic management Justine Ncheye added that the completion of the installation of the radars would attract more airlines to use the country's airspace.

“These are among the best radars in the world, after the completion of this project, we will be able to accommodate more airplanes at a time,” he said.

Ncheye added the country had already sent some experts for training in South Africa and other countries to learn more on how to operate the new radars.

“As time goes, more training will be provided to engineers, air traffic experts among others.”

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